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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: track · cold · march · clip · mate · race · straw · bound

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. cold — an illness
  3. race — humankind
  4. clip — for paper
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. march — the month
  7. track — a path
  8. mate — to breed
  9. mate — a partner
  10. clip — a video
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. track — to keep track
  13. bound — obliged
  14. track — a song
  15. march — the month
  16. race — a contest
  17. bound — certain
  18. march — music
  19. cold — not warm
  20. race — the arms race
  21. bound — tied together
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. mate — a friend
  24. clip — to cut

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com